Thales Alenia Space wins contract for Gateway airlock

Thales Alenia Space to Build Moon Base AirLock for NASA’s Lunar Gateway

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—In a leap forward for lunar exploration, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has chosen Thales Alenia Space to construct a crucial airlock module for NASA’s lunar Gateway. The signing of the contract on February 4 seals the deal, although financial terms remain undisclosed.

This airlock, the final piece of the Gateway puzzle, will enable spacewalks, deploy and retrieve scientific payloads, and offer an additional docking port for visiting spacecraft. It’s set to be the last major module to join the lunar outpost, launching aboard the enhanced Space Launch System (SLS) on the Artemis 6 mission.

The airlock’s role is pivotal, as Herve Derrey, CEO of Thales Alenia Space, highlights, "This new pressurized element is crucial for the Lunar Gateway, designed to enable extravehicular activities for astronauts… emphasing Thales Alenia Space’s leading positions in space transportation, orbital infrastructures, and deep space exploration."

Thales has a strong hand in the Gateway’s construction, serving as a subcontractor for Northrop Grumman’s Habitation and Logistics Outpost module, building the Lunar I-Hab habitation module with ESA and JAXA, and crafting ESA’s ESPRIT module for communication, refueling, and observation.

Following the UAE’s agreement with NASA in 2024 to supply the airlock, the UAE’s Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) evaluated proposals from various companies. The airlock’s development timeline is yet to be finalized, with Thales planning initial reviews for this year and Artemis 6’s launch penciled in for the late 2020s.

However, the Gateway’s future remains uncertain amidst the U.S. administration’s anticipated review and potential revision of the Artemis architecture. Some question the Gateway’s necessity, given that the Artemis 3 mission aims for a lunar landing without it. Yet, NASA’s Mark Wiese argues, "Gateway gives us that staging platform to figure out different locations we need to be on the moon… It gives us contingency and abort scenarios to get back and really is that setup for Mars and long-term exploration."